If you like cars and have liked them for more than a decade, you probably have an opinion on screens. How many should a car have? How big should they be? Are they even useful at all? Enthusiasts will debate to no end over these things, but I’d wager that most would be on board with Land Rover Classic’s infotainment upgrade for third-generation Range Rovers. All it does is incorporate Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto into the L322’s sole, existing 8-inch touchscreen. What else do you need?
Land Rover announced this retrofit for 2010 through 2012 model-year Range Rovers earlier this month, and before we dive in, we must note that it’s not officially available in the States. That stings, because this solution offers the best of both worlds: Modern convenience through phone projection, so you can easily access whatever navigation and media apps you like, coupled with a compact display that still affords plenty of space to stylish trim and practical buttons and knobs. Compare that to what the current Range Rover offers and, well, it’s a bittersweet reminder of how obviously automakers have lost the plot.
This is frankly all we’ve been asking for at The Drive. Today’s vehicles, and what the public demands from them, necessitate at least one screen. If designers tried to fit a button for every single function a modern car has, they’d quickly run out of dash space, and we’d quickly run out of patience to hunt for them. Remember those tiny sliders to control stereo faders in the ’90s? Sure, they hold a certain nostalgia for the especially nerdy among us, but there’s no practical reason for them anymore. Screens give us an escape from such frustrations.
At the same time, a screen can and should supplement what already works in a vehicle, not replace everything. Look at the dashboard of today’s Range Rover. The ornamentation and touch points are mostly gone, exchanged for featureless, flat surfaces interchangeable with those inside any other model, by any other automaker. And the touchscreen, rather than sitting nestled in the dash, hovers above disconnected, like an iPad.
In the pursuit of minimalism, Land Rover’s designers haven’t merely drained the cabin of any noteworthy, identifiable features—they’ve also crammed every function and tool into a sheet of glass behind small, inscrutable icons. The car is no simpler than before; the only difference is that now, all its complexity has been funneled into a 13-inch tablet that allows for no physical feedback, requiring the driver to take their eyes off the road to do anything. This, also, is not the way.
That’s why the L322 infotainment upgrade is so attractive. With it, you’re not losing the common sense that has informed generations of automotive design. Buttons and dials are still within reach, and in a vehicle like a Range Rover, they’re probably weighted for the most exquisite tactility. (I’d have to imagine—I’ve unfortunately never driven an L322.) Plus, the metallic trim pops brilliantly against the tan plastic, black leather, and cherry wood.
When automakers expunge their dashboards of all of these details, they’re also deleting intricate points of interest that might catch someone’s attention—elements that invite us to physically interact with a vehicle beyond its steering wheel and pedals. What mechanical ingenuity is there to appreciate about an unbroken slab of soft-touch plastic? There isn’t any, so you forget it’s there, and the entire cabin becomes wallpaper that numbs the senses.
It’s for all those reasons that we love to see old vehicles afforded modern conveniences in a way that doesn’t obscure how well they already worked as cars. Land Rover’s execution here is ideal because it uses the screen the SUV came with. There are advantages and disadvantages to that, of course—we’re talking about an old TFT LCD with poor viewing angles, color reproduction, and response times, that probably doesn’t register taps and swipes very well. But the upside is that no trim needs to be replaced or installed, and the existing ergonomics are unchanged. It’d be sweet if Land Rover Classic offered this upgrade with an optional OLED panel for people like myself (freaks) willing to pay for it, but hey, this is good enough.
That said, there are bound to be limitations when installing new tech into a 15-year-old vehicle. Scanning Land Rover’s technical FAQs on the upgrade, it seems that media through CarPlay and Android Auto replaces the aux input in the vehicle’s audio system. That means that aux mode must be selected to hear anything coming from your phone. This is an extra step compared to modern cars, where you can typically just press play in a media app within CarPlay, and the car will instantly switch away from radio to whatever your device is sending. Additionally, the voice control button on the L322 steering wheel cannot be used to summon Siri or Google Assistant; instead, you have to say “Hey, Siri” or “Hey, Google” to access them.
Still, those are small concessions in exchange for a whole lot more in convenience. And, like when Honda introduced an upgrade to Wireless CarPlay in last-gen Accords, or Porsche’s PCCM head units for legacy single- and double-DIN cars, we’re sure owners of early-2010s Range Rovers will appreciate the option here. Land Rover Classic doesn’t list the upgrade’s price, but it comes with a two-year warranty when installed by the company’s specialist workshops overseas. Some third parties may import these kits stateside, but if anyone from Land Rover North America happens to be reading this, please reconsider offering them here. This is an example that more of the industry needs to follow.